Tea prices edge up

Tea prices in the country edged higher at weekly auction on strong demand for quality leaves amid a lower volume on offer.

Bangladeshi tea fetched an average price of 236.76 taka (USD 2.80) per kilogram at the auction, compared with a revised price of 236.44 taka at the previous sale, said National Brokers.

There was good demand for quality tea and buyers were ready to pay premiums, which aided the rise in prices while supplies were lower than last week, a senior official at National Brokers said.

Around 14.9 per cent of the 2.62 million kg offered at the sole auction centre in Chittagong was unsold. In the previous auction, 14 per cent of the 2.75 million kg on offer was unsold.

Bangladesh's tea production jumped nearly 27 per cent last year to a record 85 million kg, helped by favourable weather conditions and making imports a choice not a necessity.

According to Reuters on Tuesday, the South Asian country was the world's fifth-largest tea exporter in the 1990s but is now a net importer due to a surge in domestic consumption in line with economic growth.